


o romeo, romeo

by bartallen



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Teen Romance, jason blushes a lot, jason is Very Very gay, jason might be ooc because his dad is not a weirdo in a bat costume in this, there's also a cat - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-30 20:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17230676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bartallen/pseuds/bartallen
Summary: jason has a crush on eddie and also there's a cat





	o romeo, romeo

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spacewars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacewars/gifts).



> this is a gift to [jan](http://todds.co.vu/)!! merry belated christmas from ur secret santa ♡ ♡ i hope u like this

 

 

“Is that a cat?”

 

Jason buries the ears deeper inside his hoodie. It doesn’t hide the movement underneath the fabric, though.

 

“No.”

  
  
“Jason,” Bruce looks pained and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Please return it before–”

 

“What cat?”

 

Damian looks intrigued and fascinated at the same time, and that alone would be a rare sight, but then his brown eyes sparkle with excitement.

 

“So we can have more pets after all?”

 

“No,” Bruce says quickly. “No, you cannot.”  


 

Damian scowls. “But Jason has a cat right there!”  


 

“No, I don’t,” Jason says at the same time the cat meows from under his hoodie. He sighs and pulls it out, awkwardly holding it against his chest. Damian’s eyes widen and he steps closer to get a better look at the kitten.  


 

“Jason has a cat?” Dick jogs up to them, from wherever it is he had been hiding. “Why?”

 

“He’s giving it back.” Bruce attempts to sound authoritative, but to no avail.

 

“I am not,” Jason says. “It’s a he and he’s staying with _me_.”  
  


 

“You don’t even like cats,” Damian argues, making grabby motions towards the animal. “Just give him to me.”

  


“You already have your own cat,” Jason spats, moving his body away from his brother. “This one’s mine.”

 

“ _This one_ is going back to where it came from,” Bruce says. “We don’t need another pet in this home.”

 

“He’s homeless, you monster,” Jason growls. “Are you gonna kick me out next?”

 

“ _Jason_ –“ Bruce looks and sounds pained, but he probably knows it’s a lost fight. He stares at his sons for a moment longer (Jason defiant with his chin in the air, Damian torn between the kitten and the argument with his father, and Dick gleeful), before his shoulder slump in defeat. “Fine.”

 

It’s a victory, but it doesn’t feel like one, because Damian was right: Jason doesn’t even like cats.

 

 

*

 

 

It happens like this:

 

“I found a kitten,” Eddie says secretively, looking around to make sure no one overhears them talking, like it was illegal to find kittens.

 

Jason stares at his friend, unblinking and awkwardly stirring the spoon in his hot chocolate. 

 

“I found a kitten,” Eddie repeats, as if Jason had a problem with his hearing. He motions to the bag next to him. Unconsciously, Jason shuffles closer. “Look at it.”

 

He opens the bag, and for sure there’s a kitten. Its eyes are closed, the fur red and nose crumpled. It moves slightly at the motion of the bag being opened and the eyes finally open to reveal blue irises.  


 

“Where did you find it?”

 

Eddie quickly closes the bag again, as if the cat was gonna jump out and attack everyone at the cafe. Jason doesn’t think the cat looks like it’s gonna move anytime soon, with how comfortable it looks among those blankets.

 

“It was lying next to a dumpster,” Eddie explains. “I took it home and washed it and stuff.”

 

“Okay?” Jason doesn’t see where this is going and why it’s currently being held hostage in a gym bag. Jason is pretty sure he saw Eddie using that bag just last week. Had it been washed? Now that he thought about it, the blankets were probably not even blankets but Eddie’s gym clothes. 

 

“I named it Romeo,” Eddie goes on, giving Jason a strange look. “Because you like Shakespeare and stuff, right?”

 

Jason’s heart jumps at that. 

 

“Right,” He says weakly. 

 

“It was the only character I knew,” Eddie admits sheepishly. “And the kitten’s a little dude, so I couldn’t exactly name it Juliet.”

 

“Okay,” Jason says, his voice betraying him by being all scratchy all of a sudden. Why is it so hot in this cafe anyway?

 

“There’s a problem, though.”

 

Eddie tilts his head dramatically and looks Jason in the eye. He holds the eye contact for a few seconds, before he sighs, putting his head in his chin. 

  
  
“My mother doesn’t allow me to keep it.”

 

Jason gives him a sympathetic look. “Aw, man, that sucks.”

 

Eddie clears his throat awkwardly and gives Jason another one of his looks. He looks like he wants to say something, but decides against it at the last second, averting his eye. He runs a hand through his hair, putting one of the dyed grey locks behind his ear. 

 

_He looks so good like this_ , Jason thinks and almost sighs out loud before stopping himself. He curses himself for how many times it had happened so far. Him watching Eddie and not being able to look away. He quickly turns to look at his hot chocolate again, probably cold by now.

 

“Can you take it with you?”

 

Surprise makes him look at Eddie again. As soon as he stares at those intense eyes, Jason knows he’s going to say yes. He doesn’t even have a chance to admit he doesn’t like cats. Or that Bruce won’t allow another pet. He simply nods and gulps down his entire drink in one go. Eddie watches him in awe.

 

 

*

 

 

 

Jason’s biggest problem, apart from his stupid, big crush on his friend, is that he knows _nothing_ about cats.

 

Damian offers to help, and for whatever reason, Dick does too.

 

“You need to name it,” Damian says while he prepares some kind of bed for the cat to sleep on. This is probably one of the few times he’s been in Jason’s room voluntarily. He puts two kinds of bowls next to it, and Jason is already regretting all of his life choices that led up to this.

  
“His name is Romeo,” Jason mumbles while the cat in question fumbles with his sweater.

 

“You named your cat _Romeo_?” Dick chuckles from where he’s seated on Jason’s bed.

 

“I didn’t name it,” Jason retorts without looking at him. 

 

“Oh?” Dick looks interested now, sitting up and nudging him with his foot. “Who did?”

 

“I’m not telling you,” Jason simply says and tries to stop Romeo from tearing apart his sweater. For such a young cat, he’s surprisingly strong and Jason is already annoyed. “Okay, seriously, stop it!” He yanks Romeo’s paw away, but it’s already too late, for the string is already loose.

 

Jason sighs. “Great.”

 

Damian cackles from where he’s sitting and Jason shoots him a glare.  


 

“I told you to give him to me,” He says smugly. 

  
  
It would be easier to just hand him off to his brother, Jason supposes. Eddie would never find out. But it somehow feels like cheating. He doesn’t want to disappoint Eddie. 

 

“Seriously, though,” Dick says. “Why did you get a cat?”

 

Jason doesn’t answer, so Dick tries again, this time in his annoying sing-song voice. “Why did you do it?” 

 

Jason scowls. “Aren’t you supposed to be in college? Why are you even here?”

 

Damian laughs again while Dick’s shoulders slump. “I told you, I have the week off.”

 

Both Damian and Jason snort, and that’s that.

 

 

*

 

 

Eddie calls Jason two days after and convinces him to go shopping for the cat. Jason hates shopping for himself, so he doesn’t think he’ll enjoy shopping for a cat. Thankfully, Eddie does most of the actual shopping. Jason is wheeling a cart, while Eddie puts random things in it.

 

“Why would a cat need this many toys,” Jason sighs. “It’s a cat.”

 

Eddie gasps and turns around to face Jason. “Don’t talk about our son like that.”

 

Jason does not blush at that, but he’s very close to doing so. He mumbles something under his breath and tries to hide in his oversized sweater to cover up the tips of his ears which are probably turning pink.

 

Eddie grins and turns back to scooping the aisles. He pulls out a mouse toy, before examining it carefully. He pulls at its tail as if to make sure it’s strong enough for a kitten, before he nods solemnly and puts it into the cart as well. 

 

Apart from the ridiculous task of getting stuff for an animal Jason could literally not care less about, the day is fun. He enjoys watching Eddie get excited about toys and animal sweaters and his heart gets all fluttery whenever his companion turns around to get his opinion. He doesn’t think he offers anything useful, but seeing he excitement in Eddie’s eyes whenever he does contribute something is worth everything.

 

He catches himself watching the back of Eddie’s head multiple times, and has to refrain from sighing dreamily more than once as well. 

 

Jason is so, so screwed.

 

 

*

 

 

“Master Jason,” Alfred’s voice sounds amused, even through the intercom. “Mr. Bloomberg is here to see you.”  


 

Jason startles from where he’s seated at his desk and quickly checks the bed to make sure Romeo is still sleeping.

 

They hadn’t made any plans for today, so Eddie being here takes him completely by surprise. On his way downstairs, he stops in front of his mirror to make sure his hair looks fine (it looks the same as always, curls all over the place) and is embarrassed when he realises what he did.

 

Eddie’s grin blinds him as soon as he takes the last step of the staircase.  


 

“I needed to see how my boy is doing,” He exclaims, arms wide.

 

Alfred raises an eyebrow at that.  


 

“He means the cat,” Jason reassures quickly. 

 

“Of course he does,” Alfred answers smoothly. “What else could he mean?”

 

Jason drags Eddie upstairs by the arm and as soon as they are in his room, his friend crouches down toward the bed Romeo lies on.

 

“Hey there, buddy,” he coos and puts his hand carefully on the cat’s head. “Did you miss me?”

 

Romeo takes one look at Eddie and just when Jason thinks he’s going to ignore him like he usually ignores Jason, the cat snuggles into Eddie’s hand. Jason gasps quietly, feeling betrayed. Eddie doesn’t seem to notice, focused on the traitorous cat instead, who is pretending to be much sweeter than it actually is. 

 

“Why didn’t your other dad give you your sweater yet?” Eddie whispers, then turns around to give Jason a questioning look.  


 

“His what now?” Jason croaks out, feeling a blush spread all over his cheeks. 

 

“His sweater!” Eddie demands with a grin, as if Jason was talking about _that_ part of the sentence.

  
“Oh,” He says, lamely. “Here.”  


 

He moves towards the bags which are still in the same spot since Jason threw them there the week before. He turns around quickly to make sure Eddie doesn’t see him all flustered over nothing and searches for the red cat sweater Eddie had insisted on buying.  


 

When he finally finds it, he throws it over to Eddie, who is back to giving Romeo all his undivided attention.

 

“You haven’t even taken off the price tag!” Eddie accuses.

 

Jason scratches his head and is thankfully spared from answering by a yell from the next room.

  
“Jason!” 

 

Damian sounds like he’s in his own room down the hall, but makes no move to actually leave it.  


 

“What.” Jason yells back, knowing full well both Alfred and Bruce hate it when they yell across the hall instead of walking to the other room.

 

“Bring Romeo here!” 

 

Jason rolls his eyes, already used to this by now. His brother for some reason thinks that their cats should spend most of their time together and that Jason is actually not fit to take care of a pet. Most of the time Jason agrees and lets him do whatever he wants with them, since Damian actually seems to love Jason’s bitchy cat.

 

“No!” He yells back, though, because he’s not going to admit in front of Eddie that he usually carts him off to Damian.

 

“What?” Damian sounds offended. “Just bring him here, I’m busy.”

 

“No, he stays here!”

 

“Don’t be difficult, you hate cats.”  


 

Jason can feel the exact moment his heart stopped for a second, because he sees Eddie’s shoulders freeze at the same time. For a few moments the room stands still and nobody says anything. Then, Eddie turns around, Romeo in his arms.

 

“You hate cats?”

 

Jason swallows. “No…”

 

“But your brother just said so.”

  
  
As if on cue, Damian starts yelling again. “Jason!”

 

Ignoring him, Jason still focused on Eddie’s betrayed face. His gaze is on Jason, eyebrows furrowed and mouth turned downwards. He looks absolutely shattered, but also confused.

 

“I don’t _hate_ cats,” Jason says quietly. “I just…”

 

“You just what?”

 

“I don’t necessarily like them either, I guess.” 

 

Eddie stares at him.

 

“Then why did you take Romeo?”

 

Jason feels the sweat dropping alongside his neck and he’s pretty sure he’s already red in the face. Eddie looks so confused that it makes Jason take pity on him. 

 

“I wanted you to like me.”

 

“What?”

 

Jason doesn’t answer him, feeling already annoyed with himself for admitting that. Stupid cat, and stupid Damian with his stupid yelling, and stupid Eddie for making him feel like that. He just wants everyone to leave him alone.  


 

Burying his hands in the sleeves of his sweater, he avoids Eddie’s gaze.

 

“I already like you, Jason,” Eddie says slowly. “You didn’t need to take a cat in to make me do that.”

 

Jason almost scoffs, still not looking at his friend.

  
  
“Did you think I would stop hanging out with you if you had said no?”

 

The problem is that Jason _knows_ Eddie wouldn’t have done that. He’d be disappointed, sure. But he wouldn’t just stop being his friend. But…

 

“I guess I just wanted to hang out more,” He mumbles and shrugs. “It’s stupid.”

 

Eddie doesn’t say anything for a while, so Jason turns his gaze on him to see what he’s doing.

  
  
His friend is still staring at him, but when there was a kind of baffled and confused expression before, his face is now slowly turning expectant and…gleeful?

 

His eyes widen slightly and he leans forward, head slowly tilted to one side. 

 

“Jason…” He starts, voice quiet again. “Do you like me?”

 

Jason huffs and steps from one foot to another. “I just said that I did, so…”  


 

“No,” Eddie says, taking a few steps forward, Romeo still tightly in his arms. “I mean…do you have a crush on me?”

 

Jason’s breath hitches, and that should be answer enough. And yet Eddie stares at him, clearly expecting a verbal one as well. Jason’s face is probably tomato red and for that reason alone he absolutely refuses to let Eddie tease him. But Eddie doesn’t look like he’s teasing him; in fact he seems eager and completely curious.  


 

Still, Jason says: “…no.”

 

Eddie gives him a flat look and his eyes flicker to Romeo for a second, so Jason relents. 

 

“Maybe…”

 

Eddie grins.

 

“You have a crush on me! This is so cool!” 

 

Jason doesn’t know how a crush can be considered cool, but he doesn’t comment on it, instead focusing on his friend. He’s searching his face for any hint of disgust or hatred, but finds none.

  
  
Relief floods through him, and he releases a breath he didn’t realise he had been holding.

 

Eddie takes yet another step forward, moving his arms so Romeo can snuggle between them even further. 

  
  
“I like you too,” Eddie announces brightly. “Though you could have just confessed to me or something. You didn’t need to get a _cat_.” 

 

Now it’s Jason’s turn to stare at Eddie. He replays everything the other said in his head, mind clearly stuck on the first sentence.

  
Eddie’s face looks so sincere, but Jason has to make sure.

  
“You like me?”

 

Eddie nods, and there’s finally a hint of blush on his face. 

  
_Equality_ , Jason thinks.

 

They’re only standing inches from each other now, eyes locked. Eddie’s eyes are shining with excitement, while Jason’s stomach feels sick from it.

 

“Can I kiss you?” 

 

Jason’s breath hitches again, and since he doesn’t trust his voice his only reply is a curt nod.  


 

Eddie shoots him a crooked grin. 

 

“I’ve never done this before,” Eddie admits shyly, leaning a bit down. “Sorry if it’s bad.”  
  


  
Jason almost laughs. “Me neither.”

 

“Okay,” Eddie says and then he leans in. It’s short and chaste and doesn’t last longer than five seconds, but Jason’s heart still leaps.  


  
  
“Was that okay?”

 

“Yeah,” Jason answers, breathless. “Yeah, that was okay.” 

Eddie smiles, and Jason can’t help but smile back.

 

 

 

*

 

 

“I can’t believe you adopted a cat just because you’re gay.”

 

“I can’t believe you dropped out of college and thought nobody would notice.”

  
“Please stop,” Bruce pleads, eyes closed and hands on his head.

 

Dick and Jason don’t answer him, but they both have to hide a grin at his exhausted expression. Romeo meows from where he’s sitting on the couch between them, absently scratching the leather.   
  


“Hm,” Jason says, not moving an inch to stop him from ruining the couch. “Grandpa is going to be pissed.”  
  


“Jason, please stop calling the cat your son.”  
  


“Yeah, Jason,” Dick mocks him. “Stop calling him your son.”

  
Bruce sighs once more, before he silently leaves the room, muttering quiet things to himself.  
  


Dick nudges Jason with his foot.   
  
  
“I’m glad, though,” Dick says. “Eddie is cool.”  
  


Jason shrugs, fighting yet another blush. “Yeah,” He says. “He is.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> im [hawkgirls](http://hawkgirls.tumblr.com/) on tumblr


End file.
